


Loud in Love

by ForMyBabies (BooksandKpop)



Category: HONEYST (Band), SF9 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Boys Being Cute, Love at First Sight, M/M, Meet-Cute, dawon is a soft boy in love, hwan is also soft, i miss honeyst :(, radio host dawon, soft, they're all just good boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22746349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BooksandKpop/pseuds/ForMyBabies
Summary: “Whether you’re studying, finishing that assignment due at midnight, or on your way back from a clubs and socs event, it’s your favourite voice here to keep you company. Welcome to Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon.”ORCollege AU where radio host Sanghyuk (aka DJ Dawon) needs to find someone to be his special guest for a valentine's special show. Enter Kim Hwan, friend of a friend and the softest boy he's ever met.
Relationships: Kim Hwan/Lee Sanghyuk | Dawon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Loud in Love

**Author's Note:**

> bal you owe me a yonghoon fancam for every thousand words i wrote for you.
> 
> enjoy.

#

Settling his headphones in place and checking all his equipment was ready, he sent a thumbs up to the producer through the glass. She returned it and then began the countdown.

Three - two - one. Red lights went live.

“Whether you’re studying, finishing that assignment due at midnight, or on your way back from a clubs and socs event, it’s your favourite voice here to keep you company. Welcome to Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon.”

If you had asked Sanghyuk in his first year of uni what club or society he thought he would become the most invested in he probably would have said something like Drama or Soccer. But two and a half years later and here he was, spending every Thursday night in the small, cramped radio booth on the far-flung northernmost building on campus. It had started as a joke amongst some of his friends from his course. He could never be on TV because he was too expressive, which was a shame because he had such a nice voice. In order to prove them wrong, he tried to join the open night for the Filming club but got his directions mixed up and ended up in the Radio club instead. And so, DJ Dawon was born.

Sanghyuk loved his radio show. Partially because he was hiding behind a persona and could be as weird as he wanted. But also because he genuinely enjoyed getting to interact with other students through their caller events. Some weeks it was light-hearted “Share your most embarrassing fail” or “Tell me about the worst date you’ve ever had”. Other weeks it was more serious, students calling in with worries and troubles, not always looking for advice, but just wanting to talk to someone without being judged. Being able to provide that kind of support to people who were struggling made Sanghyuk feel good about himself, and while it was exhausting and nearly always made him wake up late for his Friday morning lecture, he wouldn’t give it up for any price.

“With that, I’m afraid we have to bring an end to our show. It’s approaching midnight and if I don’t get out of here soon I’ll get locked in the creepy old building we broadcast from! Thank you all for tuning in, and a huge thank you to our callers for sharing your stories with us. This has been Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon. Let’s meet again next week!”

He counted to three and then the light went out, leaving him for a brief moment to just breathe. Then the door to the studio opened and his producer poked her head inside, a wide grin on her face. “Another great show Sanghyuk. Midnight snacks?” Rolling his eyes Sanghyuk took off his headphones and hung them on the stand before gathering his things and standing up. “Only if you’re paying.” That earned him a smack on the arm from Seolhyun as she walked back over to the sound desk and began the long process of shutting everything down for the night before they left and made their way back to the main campus.

There was an After Dark show on every weeknight, with a different host and a different theme. Seolhyun co-hosted Monday night’s show, which was a podcast where they read folklore and fairy tales from countries all around the world. She had become a producer in the last few months, wanting to expand her qualifications for after graduation. Sanghyuk was only one of two hosts who used an alias for their shows, the other being Seolhyun’s co-host, a first-year student going by Remi. The only people who knew Dawon’s real identity were the members of the radio club and his roommate Inseong.

Speaking of whom. “Have you decided who you’re going to get to be your guest star for the Valentine’s Week special?” He let out a loud, dramatic sigh and started dragging his feet along the pavement as they headed to the 24-hour convenience store on campus. Seolhyun slapped him again, playfully, before continuing to press him for a name. The idea behind the Valentine’s special episodes was to help set up their club member Youngbin, who hosted the Friday night After Dark show. He had been trying to ask out a girl from his course since November and kept chickening out, so the plan was for him to invite her as his guest for the show and ask her out. Youngbin’s show was about college life and making plans for the future, and the special episode was going to be about dating while in university. They were all pretty hopeful it would go well, but in order to not make it suspicious, they all now needed to bring a guest for their show.

“I asked Inseong but he turned me down. He has 8 am lectures on Friday’s and needs his beauty sleep.” Sanghyuk made air quotes around the last bit as he imitated his roommate, which made Seolhyun laugh. She was inviting her best friend while Remi was bringing her roommate for their show, and apparently everyone else already had their guests lined up. “You need to ask someone soon, it’s in two weeks.” “I know that!” He stuck his tongue out at her and then ran off screeching as she tried to hit him in retaliation. They were definitely being too loud for after midnight, but Sanghyuk was a loud person in general.

The weekend passed and another week of lectures steamrolled in. Midterms were approaching soon which meant Sanghyuk actually had to spend more time in the library to get extra reading material for his lectures. This year counted towards his final grade, so there was no more coasting by on a pass - unfortunately. There was one upside though. Studying with his best friend Jaeyoon in the library meant studying with Jaeyoon’s boyfriend Seokwoo. And studying with Seokwoo meant that dozens of pretty and handsome students walked by their table to get a glance at the model with his head in his books. Sanghyuk was a true believer in love at first sight, and he was hoping that someday one of the students who wandered by for Seokwoo would find eyes for him instead.

Wednesday was not that day though. Not when Seokwoo arrived with five other students in tow and they all squished themselves around the small library desk they had snagged. After a bit of shuffling around, Sanghyuk ended up sitting directly opposite Seokwoo. This meant students who were looking at him would walk behind Sanghyuk, and also that he had to sit sideways on his chair to be out of the way of the model’s long legs. “Sorry, I meant to tell you guys yesterday that I would be bringing some friends today.” There was no way to get mad at the taller student, not when he made puppy eyes and looked so adorable Sanghyuk just wanted to pat him on the head and buy him chocolate. “Don’t worry about it, the more the merrier right? I’m Sanghyuk.”

  
Always the extrovert, he made sure to shake hands and introduce himself to each of the five new arrivals. He recognised one of them, Seungseok, from the gym that he went to, and it seemed like it was mutual. The sharp-jawed Juho also looked kind of familiar but he couldn’t place him immediately. Chulmin, Dongsung and Hwan were all completely new faces though, but they had nice smiles and firm handshakes which put them in Sanghyuk’s good books straight away.

“We were just complaining about never being able to find a study space together and Woo invited us to join you. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.” It was Dongsung who answered when Jaeyoon asked how the arrangement had come up, in hushed tones as he didn’t want to disturb the other students around them. Sanghyuk almost wanted to tell him the story of how just last week someone had spent an hour and a half blowing up balloons with a squeaky hand pump, but decided to keep that for another time. The eight of them settled into their studies after some small talk. It was a tight squeeze but they made it work.

Hwan was also a chemistry student, although taking different modules to Sanghyuk, so they tried to help each other out a little. There wasn’t much overlap though. Sanghyuk was studying organometallic chemistry while Hwan sheepishly held up his biochem textbook as an answer. After a few hours they all had reached their limit and the number of students milling around the foyer straining their necks to look for empty spots to study was increasing by the minute. “Who’s up for some pizza or burgers?” There was a resounding chorus of yesses to Seokwoo’s suggestion, so they all hurriedly packed away their materials and made their way out of the library. They had barely made it twenty feet from the table when a swarm of students descended on it, desperate to claim a spot. It made Sanghyuk giggle a little under his breath, which earned him dual looks from Hwan and Juho. He waved them off, making a mental note to tell his cousin Yuju about it as inspiration for her art piece she was working on.

The pizza place they decided on was blessedly empty for a Wednesday night. The waitress told them it was probably because of the new bar/restaurant that opened down the street, they were having an opening week special where all their food was half price. The group of student’s eyes all widened at those magical words, but it would be far too rude to leave now. So they squeezed into a booth that probably wasn’t designed for eight pretty tall guys, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Free from the silence of the library they were able to talk properly now, about themselves, their courses, the stupidest things they had done as a student (so-far). It was fun and light-hearted and Sanghyuk found himself laughing harder than he had in a while.

Perhaps that had something to do with the warmth of Hwan pressed into his side, jostling Sanghyuk’s shoulders every time he laughed and pressing closer to avoid Jaeyoon’s wild swinging arms as he re-told stories. When their food arrived and they all began to dig in, Sanghyuk kept finding his eyes drifting to the boy on his left, stuffing his face full of chicken and ham pizza. It was cute. He was cute.

Oh.

Realising he was developing a little bit of a crush on Seokwoo’s friend shouldn’t be a bad thing. It wasn’t a bad thing, really. But Sanghyuk was a loud person in general, and he just got louder around people he liked. Which was why it was kind of a bad thing. He tried to keep himself under control by just continuing to feed himself pizza and fries, but that only worked until the food ran out. Usually, he could just try to keep his mouth and not give himself away, but it wasn’t really possible when the group kept directing questions at him. Jaeyoon caught on almost immediately, raising an eyebrow in Sanghyuk’s direction after he laughed so loud at something Hwan said that the couple at the table across from them sent them angry stares. He tried to bury himself in his soda, but that only lasted so long.

“It’s getting kinda late, we should all probably head back to our dorms.” Thankfully, his best friend was his saviour. They all agreed and split the bill, leaving as generous of a tip as they could afford for the waitress who had to deal with them all night. As they left the restaurant and started making their way back to campus Seokwoo also clued into Sanghyuk’s dilemma, and came to his rescue by distracting Hwan with questions and stories of his own. They reached the dorm blocks and said their goodbyes, splitting off to go their own directions. Hwan turned out to live in the same building as Jaeyoon, which was one over from Sanghyuk’s. So that left the three of them to continue walking together. Thankfully with the late hour, he could pass off his forced silence as tiredness.

When they reached Sanghyuk’s dorm building Jaeyoon attacked him with a hug which made him laugh off the tension in his shoulders. “If you guys don’t mind, we should do group study sessions more often.” Sanghyuk’s heart sped up when he caught Hwan’s eye. There was definitely something there and it made him want to scream and run around with glee. But he just smiled broadly at him instead. “Definitely! It’s great to have a fellow science major to study with! I’ll message Seokwoo and get him to make a group chat!” His voice was a good 10 decibels louder than normal and it made him wince. But Hwan didn’t seem to notice, or if he did he didn’t mind. Instead he just shot his own wide grin back and agreed happily. They said their goodnights and Sanghyuk turned and power-walked into the foyer of his dorm building before he could say anything to give himself away.

Thursday night came as it always did and Sanghyuk walked with a bounce in his step the whole way to the radio building. Seolhyun was already there, and the Wednesday night producer Youngkyun was with her. They told him there had been some technical issues with last night’s show so he came tonight as well to see could they identify the problem. Sanghyuk nodded his head and just told them to let him know if there was anything he could do to help. Thankfully this evening wasn’t a serious topic on the show so if there were some issues it shouldn’t cause too much hassle. With a wave he headed inside the broadcast room, pulling out his notes and pen and sitting down in the chair. He always loved the few minutes he had before a show, it was just him in this room with no pressure or expectations from anyone to be anything but himself. Tonight they were going to be sharing stories of times when they just should have stopped talking, and Sanghyuk had plenty of his own to fill the gaps in between callers.

Seolhyun gave him the signal to begin prep for the show. Sanghyuk placed the headphones over his ears, switched on his mic, sent a thumbs up and waited for his red light to go. Another week, another show, another break from his every day.

“Tick tock it’s ten o’clock and now it’s my time to shine. Welcome to Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon.”

There were a few small issues for the first hour of the show. Things like static over the equipment or caller lines going silent for a few seconds. But after the ten-minute music break in the middle, it seemed like Youngkyun had finally worked out the issue and the second hour of the show ran without a hitch. As he was preparing to close off Seolhyun held up a handwritten sign to the glass of the booth, reminding him to advertise their Valentine’s special week next week. Sanghyuk kept himself from groaning out loud, having once again forgotten about it, but did as he was told.

“Before we say our goodbyes this week I have a small announcement to make. Next Friday, as I’m sure we all know, is Valentine’s Day! So all next week, After Dark will be doing Valentine’s Week Episodes including some very special guests. Make sure you tune in to Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon on the 13th where we’re going to be recalling some of our most embarrassing love life moments. Thank you all for tuning in, and a huge thank you to our callers for sharing your stories with us. This has been Thursdays After Dark with DJ Dawon.”

Waiting for the all-clear, Sanghyuk immediately began stressing over who he was going to get to join him next week. Whoever he was going to ask he needed to do it tomorrow to give them enough time to prepare. It also meant having to share his dual identity with another person, since Inseong wasn’t going to do it. The door opened and Youngkyun walked in, getting on all fours to start examining the cable connections to the recording desk. Sanghyuk took off his headphones and cleared up the studio, heading out through the open door and attempting to escape without Seolhyun catching him. He had no such luck.

“I assume you’ve got your guest lined up for next week?” She was using her producer’s voice, the one she reserved for when Sanghyuk was being particularly bratty. It made him cringe and he turned slowly to face her, she had one hand on her hip and was watching him with a raised eyebrow. “Well?” If he said no he was going to get a proper slap, but if he said yes he would be lying. “Yeah, I’ve asked someone.” Well, it looks like lying it was. Seolhyun’s other eyebrow joined the first in surprise and it made him stifle a laugh. It wasn’t often he managed to catch her truly off-guard like this. “Oh, well - that’s great. The pres wants us all to have our guests in the studio half-an-hour before the shows start so we can get them introduced to the system.” Sanghyuk just nodded and when she didn’t immediately start questioning him he yelled a goodbye to Youngkyun and waved to his friend before sprinting out the door and out of the building. Now he had a real problem.

He rang Jaeyoon on his walk home to complain about the problem caused by his own stupidity. Luckily he knew his best friend had no lectures tomorrow which meant he couldn’t be mad at Sanghyuk for calling him after midnight. “Why.” “Really? No; ‘Hello Sanghyuk. How are you Sanghyuk?’ I’m offended.” He heard an exasperated sigh over the line and smiled to himself. There was a reason Jayeoon was his best friend - very few others could put up with his eccentrics. “Fine. Hello Sanghyuk. How are you Sanghyuk? Why are you calling me at midnight Sanghyuk?” The clouds in the sky parted slightly and let the moon shine through and down onto the campus which made him smile. He loved the moon.

“I have a dilemma.” “I guessed as much. What is it this time?” Sanghyuk decided it was time to break the news to his best friend about his second identity. To be fair, Jaeyoon didn’t seem in the slightest bit bothered, only upset that he hadn’t told him sooner so he could support his show. “I’m really glad you enjoy it so much Hyukkie. But you still haven’t told me what your dilemma is.” There was a reason Jaeyoon was on track to graduate top of his class, he was just so smart. Sanghyuk made sure to tell him as much which made his best friend sigh again. There was no putting it off any longer though, Sanghyuk had called him specifically to talk about his problem.

Jaeyoon listened while Sanghyuk rambled on about the radio and why the Valentine’s specials were set up and the pressure from his producer to find a guest. He complained about Inseong not being a good sport and not wanting to reveal his identity to too many people because that would defeat the purpose of having a radio persona. Jaeyoon listened and hummed at the right times to let him know that he was still listening. By the time Sanghyuk had finished his word vomit he was back at his dorm building, and Jaeyoon was ready with his advice. “I would say you could ask me, but Seokwoo and I are going away on Thursday for a romantic retreat. You could always ask Hwan to be your guest.”

Sanghyuk very nearly walked face-first into the glass door of the stairwell. There was no one around to see him make a fool of himself, thankfully, but he still felt the embarrassment redden his cheeks. His silence in the moment was very telling, especially to Jaeyoon who had known him for over ten years. “Oh, I didn’t realise you had a crush on him.” Despite the teasing in his words, Sanghyuk felt the sentiment behind Jaeyoon’s words. He was a bit of a hopeless romantic, falling in and out of love at the drop of a hat. But there was something different about the way Hwan made him feel. It made him want to curl up into a ball but also bounce off the walls. His heart was beating a rabbit’s pace and his skin heated up when he remembered how close they sat at the restaurant. Yeah, he had a crush. A big fat one.

“I’ll get Seokwoo to set up that group chat first thing in the morning. Then you can get his number and talk to him.” “Do you think inviting him to be on my show is too much?” He held his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he unlocked the door of his dorm room. Inseong’s shoes were thrown haphazardly in the doorway (again) and Sanghyuk kicked them to one side as he took his own off. “I don’t think so, it will be a good opportunity to learn more about each other. You can always get coffee or something between now and next Thursday anyway.” Sanghyuk hummed thoughtfully as he grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and headed to his room. Thinking about getting to spend more time with Hwan made his whole body tingle with excitement. It was a nice feeling. He was just worried about scaring him away by being too loud. Jaeyoon sympathised with his worries but reassured him that since Hwan was already friends with Seokwoo then he probably wasn’t too put off by hyper-activity. It made Sanghyuk laugh, and as he prepared to get ready for bed he made sure to thank his best friend extensively. “Any time Hyukkie, I know you’d do the same for me. Goodnight.”

As promised, when Sanghyuk woke up the next morning his phone was overwhelmed with notifications from a new group chat. It had no name or icon photo yet, which Sanghyuk vowed to change as soon as he had coffee. There were far too many messages to scroll back through all of them, but he caught up on the last half hour of conversation before chiming in himself. Everyone seemed happy to have a group chat together, and also excited for the prospect of more group study sessions. Dongsung even suggested that if they could get two more students to join them they would have enough to book group study spaces in the library or humanities building. Sanghyuk had never been in any of them before, but Seokwoo said they were really great spaces to work in. So they all decided to brainstorm more people to add to their study group and then Sanghyuk saved all of their numbers in his phone and began to think of an appropriate group chat name.

 **Neoz School** [9 new messages]

After all his Friday lectures drew to a close Sanghyuk headed to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. On his walk he finally drew up the courage to send Hwan a message. He re-wrote it several times before he was happy with it, and then hit sent and hoped that it didn’t come across as too pushy. There was no reply until Sanghyuk was almost finished his food. When he saw the notification name he immediately locked his phone again and put it face down on the table. He was nervous. The two girls from his course he was sitting with gave him curious looks from across the table. Sanghyuk couldn’t help himself and rambled all about his crush to them, barely taking a breath. When he finished he sucked in a huge lungful of air and then let his head fall and hit the table.

“You good?” “Did it sound like he was good?” Chanmi laughed at his groan of pain in response while Haeyoon just patted the back of his head. “You should probably read his message.” Sanghyuk wanted to read it so much that he didn’t want to, in case he was disappointed. But the two girls poked and prodded at him and even threatened to take his phone and do it themselves. So he sat up, rubbed his forehead and opened his phone before he could chicken out again.

 **Kim Hwan** [1 new message]

_Coffee sounds great! How about tomorrow? I have an assignment to finish in the morning but I’ll be free around two ^.^_

Sanghyuk let out a tiny squeal at how cute Hwan sounded over text. Across the table, his classmates both laughed at him, then wished him luck with his date as they packed up to leave. He waved goodbye to them as he prepared to send a reply to Hwan. It once again took several attempts, but once he had sent it Sanghyuk felt a massive grin pull up the corners of his mouth. He was giddy and excited, and he couldn’t wait to go on their date.

Should he specify it was a date?

Apparently he had no need because Hwan assumed it was a date anyway. It went perfectly, in Sanghyuk’s opinion at least. They spent far longer in the café than expected, just talking about nothing and everything at the same time. Hwan didn’t seem to mind Sanghyuk’s loud outbursts, and as the time went on he felt himself become quieter in the younger’s presence. It was nice, feeling so giddy but also so calm around him. Eventually they did leave the café, but only to wander further down the street to a diner where they grabbed food as well. They just matched so well together. A similar sense of humour, passionate about their own things, and a love of chemistry which was very important as well. Sanghyuk knew he had a crush, but it was starting to feel like this could end up being so much more than that.

As they were walking back towards their dorms after dinner, the sun was beginning to set and Sanghyuk felt totally at ease. Hwan’s hand fit snugly into his own, radiating heat and constantly reminding him that this was real. It made his heart do flips in his chest every time he glanced over and saw the small smile on Hwan’s face as he looked at the beautiful colours of the sky. They reached Sanghyuk’s dorm building and it was time to say goodbye. It was only as he turned to face the younger that he remembered what the whole point of this was.

“Have you ever heard of After Dark, the uni’s radio station?” It was a very out of the blue question he realised after he had asked it, but Hwan just smiled at him like it didn’t matter at all. “Yeah, I usually listen to the Tuesday show with Taeyang on my way back from band practice.” Hwan was a guitarist, he had excitedly told Sanghyuk about the busking concert they had planned in a few weeks time. It was cute seeing how much music meant to him. “Taeyang is a really great guy. But, um - I host the Thursday night shows, and I’m sure you probably heard that next week is a Valentine’s special and each host has to bring a guest on with them. And I was kind of wondering if you would like to be mine?” His words all came out in a rush and tumble, and it took Hwan a moment to process everything. But when he did, a pink blush appeared on his cheekbones and the tips of his ears. It was adorable. Sanghyuk almost cooed out loud. And now Hwan’s pretty lips were moving and saying words and he had completely missed whatever he just said. “Sorry, I was distracted. What did you say?”

Hwan laughed. It was a light and airy giggle and a dimple appeared in one of his cheeks. Sanghyuk felt his heart swoop and had to stop himself from confessing his love right there and then. “I said I would be honoured to be your guest. Just send me the details and I’ll be there.” He seemed a little shy, eyes glancing downwards and pink flush still visible on his cheeks. Feeling brave, Sanghyuk took a step forward so they were almost chest to chest and smiled at the way Hwan had to catch his breath in surprise.

From this close, he could see the way the last of the sunlight made Hwan’s eyes look like they contained dancing embers and his skin glowed like honey. Sanghyuk hadn’t felt this right about something since he joined the Radio club back in his first year. It was exhilarating. It was intoxicating. He never wanted to let it go. “I’m really looking forward to it, thank you.” As he spoke he saw Hwan’s eyes flicking down to his lips and it made his heart skip a beat. They had only known each other for three days, it was so much faster than any other date Sanghyuk had ever been on, but it felt so right.

He leaned in and Hwan closed the distance. It was a soft kiss, the gentlest press of their lips together, but it set a fire burning under his skin. Sanghyuk was sure there had to be some sort of magic in the touch to make him feel this way. But when they separated and his eyes fluttered open he could tell that Hwan felt the same. A smile broke free across his face, stretching from ear to ear and making his eyes scrunch closed. “Goodnight Sanghyuk.” He sounded breathless, much like Sanghyuk felt. “Goodnight Hwan.” They kissed again, fitting together naturally like they were made for one another.

When Hwan slipped his fingers from Sanghyuk’s and waved a delicate goodbye the electricity left in his wake made him feel like he could do anything. He wanted to scream and shout his love from the rooftops and let everyone know how he felt. But that could wait a little bit he supposed. For now, in this moment, that feeling belonged to the two of them alone.

He could leave being loud until later.


End file.
